Harold Mattingly (24 December 1884 – 26 January 1964) was a British

classical scholar Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

, specialising in

art history Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today, ...

and

numismatics Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals and related objects. Specialists, known as numismatists, are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, but the discipline also inclu ...

. His interests included the history of

Ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–50 ...

, Etruscan and

Roman currency Roman currency for most of Roman history consisted of gold, silver, bronze, orichalcum and copper coinage. From its introduction to the Republic, during the third century BC, well into Imperial times, Roman currency saw many changes in form, de ...

, and the Roman historian

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his two major works—the ...

Early life and education

Harold Mattingly was born in

Sudbury Sudbury may refer to: Places Australia * Sudbury Reef, Queensland Canada * Greater Sudbury, Ontario (official name; the city continues to be known simply as Sudbury for most purposes) ** Sudbury (electoral district), one of the city's federal e ...

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include L ...

on 24 December 1884. From 1896 to 1903, he was educated at The Leys School, an independent school in Cambridge. He then studied classics at

Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of ...

, where he achieved a

double first The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...

and graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

(BA) degree in 1907.

Career

In 1910 he joined the ''Department of Printed Books'' of the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docume ...

. In 1909 and 1914, showing his interest in Roman history, he published two books on the subject. During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

, worked for the Postal Censorship Bureau. At the close of hostilities he returned to his work at the British Museum and his attention carried him towards the study of antique coins. From 1912, Harold Mattingly was a member of the

Royal Numismatic Society The Royal Numismatic Society (RNS) is a learned society and charity based in London, United Kingdom which promotes research into all branches of numismatics. Its patron was Queen Elizabeth II. Membership Foremost collectors and researchers, bo ...

. He completely revised of the chronology used for the study of Roman coins. He was awarded the

medal of the Royal Numismatic Society The Medal of the Royal Numismatic Society was first awarded in 1883. It is awarded by the Royal Numismatic Society and is one of the highest markers of recognition given to numismatists. The President and Council award the Medal annually to an "in ...

in 1941. He also translated

' works ''Agricola'' and ''Germania''. These two translations were published together in 1948 by Penguin Books under the title ''Tacitus on Britain and Germany''. 27,000 copies of this book were sold in that year. It was reprinted in 1951, 1954, 1960, 1962, 1964 and 1965. The second edition, revised by S A Handford, was published in 1970 under the title ''The Agricola and the Germania''. The book was revised again in 2009 by J B Rives. Mattingly's translation is considered one of the best and is still used (albeit in edited format) today.

Personal life

His son,

Harold B. Mattingly Harold Braithwaite Mattingly (1923 – 23 August 2015) was a British historian of Roman civilization, epigrapher and numismatist who was Professor of Ancient History at the University of Leeds. Biography Mattingly was born in Finchley, London, t ...

(1923-2015) was also a celebrated numismatist, and President of the

1999-2004. Mattingly died on 26 January 1964 at the age of 79 in Chesham,

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-eas ...

Publications

*''Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum'', 6 tomes,

, London, 1923. * (with

Edward Allen Sydenham Edward is an English language, English given name. It is derived from the Old English, Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements ''wikt:ead#Old English, ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and ''wikt:weard#Old English, weard'' "gua ...

), ''The Roman Imperial Coinage'', 10 v., Spink, London, 1923-1994. *''Roman Coins from the Earliest to the Fall of the Western Empire'', Methuen & Co., London, 1928. *''The Date of the Roman Denarius and Other Landmarks in Early Roman Coinage''. H. Milford, London, 1933 *''Some New Studies of the Roman Republican Coinage''. Proceedings of the

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...

: pp. 239–285, 1953.

Notes and references

*"Dr Harold Mattingly, Distinguished Numismatist", The Times, 1 February 1964, p 10 *R A G Carson
"Harold Mattingly 1884-1964"
(1965) Numismatic Chronicle and Journal of the Royal Numismatic Society, 7th Series, vol 5, p 239

External links

* *

* Roman Imperial Coinage (Fr) {{DEFAULTSORT:Mattingly, Harold People from Sudbury, Suffolk English classical scholars English numismatists English art historians Etruscan scholars 1884 births 1964 deaths Presidents of the Royal Numismatic Society